Decent 44 Chief manual and/ or parts list req'd

Hi fellas,

I joined the forums not far back as a result of trying to get info for my ex-South African military U-Model harley. and appreciated the assistance.

Now it looks like I have just purchased a 44 Chief with sidecar. As a result, I will now be trying to locate a manual for maintenance and a reliable, reasonably priced parts list.

One other question I have also is: due to constant differences in opinions on whether the 44 Chiefs had 16" or 18" rims; I was wondering if anyone in the know could shed some accurate light and some reasoning to the issue.

Thanks in advance.

Strewth.

Hi strewth
re-wheels i`d say 18" no mention of 16`s in 44 in J Hatfields resto guide, although with indian special order/lack of records etc,
Whats fitted to yours ?
also post war chief (46 model) early year production used 18`s although thinner spokes same as 741 military 18`s
46 seems to be the transition year from early std 18/16 optional to late 16 std/18 optional for civilian bikes

Greg

Thanks for the reply Chiefy.

This bike actually has 16" on the bike and an 18" on the sidecar. From what I do understand, the sidecars were pretty much all 18" wheels and it probably not impossible to end up with a mix like this one.

Is the J hatfields resto guide worth grabbing?

Strewth.

Absolutely, now that Hatfields Resto Guide is back in print and only $50.00 not the $150 to $1100.00 they were going for on ebay last year. I should have sold the signed copy Jerry payed me with and bought parts while they were so high. Oh well.
Dusty

Thanks Dusty.

I best be grabbin' me one ASAP by the sounds.

I am yet to see the bike personally, as it is 1400km away and my brother in law who is a mechanic is just confirming the deal for me.

Strewth

I can't work out how to post photos on here, but I have found a few that indicate 18" rims are the answer. I do recall seeing a pic of a Chief sidecar outfit supplied to the Dutch army in 1940 with the biggest, fattest off-road tyres I have ever seen, but can't locate it

I'd love to see it if you ever come across it 45Brit.I will try to post a pic. Mostly you just copy/paste the image file from a storage server like photo bucket.



See what happens

http://s564.photobucket.com/albums/ss88/indianpics/

ok here they are

it's my understanding that European armies generally abandoned the use of sidecar outfits ( apart from the Germans, who persevered with them throughout )and so any Chiefs in the European theatre would be pre-war ones. The pics are captioned 1940 and the Adrian helmets would be right for this

Nice photos 45Brit. I saved them for reference. Thanks.

You can also show them by copying the "IMG" tag that appears when you select the photo in your photobucket selection and then past it into the forum so it looks something like this:

[imag]http://img.photobucket.com/albems/v623/struwth/kkj_s.jpg[/imag]

I changed it so that it remains in writing even after me posting. Notice the square brackets with "img" at the beginning and with "/img" at the end. This denotes an actual image to be displayed. The "imag" should actually be "img". This is one of the things I had to change so it would remain as writing instead of trying to display an image.

strewth.

http://members.tripod.com/~BMWR50S/indycov.html

try that for a manual...

I'd love to see it if you ever come across it 45Brit.I will try to post a pic. Mostly you just copy/paste the image file from a storage server like photo bucket.



See what happens

I know Indians have the shifter on the wrong side, but the sidecar too?

Very interesting 45Brit. Thanks again. I shall sit down later and have a good read of it.

I know Indians have the shifter on the wrong side, but the sidecar too?

The side car is not on the wrong side, nor is it on the right side. It is on the left side, which means it is on the right side

Absolutely, now that Hatfields Resto Guide is back in print and only $50.00 not the $150 to $1100.00 they were going for on ebay last year. I should have sold the signed copy Jerry payed me with and bought parts while they were so high. Oh well.
Dusty

Thanks mate. Just ordered it from Starklite, as couldn't find a copy in Oz.